New Philosophical Furnaces

P A R T I.

The Method of Distilling.

First, let several live coals original: "carbones vivi"; glowing, active embers used to provide steady heat. be thrown in, which are afterwards covered with others, almost until the furnace is filled, nearly up to the pipe. When this is done, let the upper lid remain removed from its opening (so that the heat and smoke may pass through there, rather than through the pipe and the receiving vessels, which would otherwise heat up and hinder the distillation) until the fire is sufficiently lit and the furnace is properly heated. Next, throw in just as much of the prepared material for distillation with an iron spoon as is enough to cover the coals. When this is done, seal the furnace very tightly by firmly pressing the upper lid into its opening, or into the sand in that groove original: "arenae quae in distinctione illâ"; this refers to a sand-seal, a common laboratory technique where a lid sits in a channel of sand to create an airtight seal that can still withstand pressure. with which the upper opening is provided. When you are about to inject the material through the middle opening, it is necessary that, once the injection is made, you immediately move the stone stopper original: "obturamentum lapideum" into its opening. This must also close or stop it up as precisely as possible; for by this means, everything is forced to break out like a thick mist through the pipe into the receiving vessels, and there condense into a spirit or acid oil original: "spiritum sive oleum acidum"; in early chemistry, concentrated mineral acids were called "oils" due to their viscous appearance.. From there, it distills into the attached basin, and through its pipe, the liquids further drip into the other glass receiver placed nearby. Once the coals are burned out and all the spirits have come forth, more coals must be thrown in, along with more materials, until you have obtained a sufficient quantity of spirits. In this